Luft Balloons
by AHigherOctave
Summary: “It would’ve made him happy,” She sniffles, letting herself lean against him. “If he was happy…”


_**Luft Balloons**_

Rachel doesn't mean to tell Tina on Monday. It's just, he's sitting there with his stupid perfect girlfriend in her stupid perfect white and red cheerleading uniform with her stupid blond ponytail bobbing up-and-down, up-and-down as she slides her tong up-and-down, up-and down his throat. It kind of just comes out in one of those spastic rage blackouts that made her turn in Sandy for giving that closet kid her solo.

And the next thing she knows, she's in the girls bathroom sobbing in a toilet stall with Tina handing her disgusting one-ply toilet paper and telling her it going to be ok-k-k-kay. Except it isn't because he told her not to tell anyone and she did. And his stupid girlfriend is going to kill her when she finds out and she will find out eventually. And she'll blame it on the fact that the freak who hits high notes quit celibacy club and because of that she can't even keep it in her pants with someone else boyfriend.

So she goes gets the school nurse to write her a note saying she has extreme cramping and goes home to work on a perfectly tortured Myspace video for when the shit inevitably hit's the fan.

T-T-Tina doesn't mean to t-t-tell Ar-t-t-tie last period in gym on T-T-Tuesday. It's just, she's not really the kind of girl who gets a lot of gossip, and having a secret this big and not being able to tell anyone, not even the r-r-rest of the Glee kids is eating her alive. So as she pushes his wheelchair down the hall, she asks him if he can keep a s-s-secret.

He can. Or so he s-s-says, so she tells him. Rachel, Finn, in the auditorium, kissed. And he starts f-f-freaking out. They have to tell Quinn she'll k-k-kill them if she finds out they knew and didn't t-t-tell her. Tina pushes him into the janitor's closet and locks the d-d-door before telling him that Rachel is scary enough on her own but if they t-t-tattle to Finn's g-g-girlfriend on him then he'll have Puck and the whole football team lock them in port-o-potties and roll them.

Artie seems to agree to this logic, but she spit s-s-shakes with him just to make sure. And then they go off to get dodge balls thrown at them, they are the Gleeks after all.

It's two whole days later and Artie still hasn't spilled. He's been so busy studying for his Chemistry, he hasn't even been able to think about it. Or so he tells himself. And so long as there's homework to be done, he can pretend. He's lighting his Bunsen burner when his lab partner sidles up beside him grinning. He tells her to spit it out because he wants to finish in time to do the extra credit on the board.

She rolls her eyes and tells him to guess. He sighs, and gives half-hearted responses while adding his sodium chloride into the mix. Santana's dad finally is letting her get that nose job she wants. Kurt's dad finally found out about his tiara collection in his hope chest and took his car away. Puck landed some lady in juvie for having sex with a minor.

No. Yes, but that's not it. Not that she knows of.

He looks up at her terrified and bites his lip. Quinn knows that Finn and Rachel made out in the auditorium while they were supposed to be practicing and she murdered Finn. From the excited shriek that meets him in reply, he guesses that this wasn't right. She wants him to tell her everything, how it happened, how long it lasted, how it felt.

He shrugs and says he doesn't know. She just glares at him and says that they all make it impossible for her to live vicariously through them.

Mercedes doesn't last five minutes before going to Kurt, who promptly asks her if she picked out that outfit herself and if she kept the receipt. She ignores him and asks is he wants to know the juiciest piece of gossip in McKinley High history. He rolls his eyes and says that Mr. Tanaka's doing pot hardly even compares to Sandy Rhyers and Hank Sanders going at on top of the piano in the music room, let alone Alex Gordon coming back from summer break being married to a stripper.

She glares and says she has real gossip, not baby news like his. And he asks if Mr. Schu's wife popped early. No, she hisses. Rachel and Finn hooked up in the auditorium the other day after their performance at the pep rally. He gives her a worthy reaction.

Is Rachel pregnant? Does Quinn know? Are they in love? Is he a good kisser? Does Quinn know? Is this the first time it happened? Are they still doing it in secret? And, for the love of God, does Quinn know?

She shrugs her shoulders and tells him they aren't supposed to tell anybody. He smiles his tight-lipped liar smile, nods and scurries off.

Kurt "accidentally" runs into Santana 2.5 seconds later. She shoves him and tries to keep walking. Rachel and Finn had sex. She turns around, eyes wide and comes at him. When did it happen? Why did it happen? Does Quinn know? Who told him? Why is he wearing that ugly hat?

Suddenly, cheerleaders are attacking him from all sides for information. Just like in his dreams. He's the center of attention, the bell of the ball. He, Kurt Hummel, is officially part of the prestigious in-crowd where he's always so belonged rightfully. He feels like a lion that had been caged it's whole life and then suddenly set free to roam the Sahara. Like a Prada bag that has been left on a shelf-

Like someone who's being held in the air by an enormous football player holding onto his designer collar. Puck, in particular.

"No-one tells Quinn," He hisses at him, eyes wide with rage. "I will personally castrate whoever tells her, especially you Santana. If you say one word to her, I will slice your nose off and deliver it to your father myself." She bursts into tears and runs down the hallway, her uniform skirt swaying as she goes.

Puck puts Kurt on the floor. "Are we clear?" He looks around and is met by a number of terrified nods and squeaked agreements. "Good." He turns back to the queer in front of him. "You tell Finn I want him, at her house. Seven o'clock. He's going to tell her." He nods silently, "I'm going to take her for ice cream and if he's not there when I get back, I kill you."

With that, he storms off in the direction of the gym.

Finn tells Quinn on a Thursday night, in her dark living room as soon as she gets in the door. He'll never forget her walking in, a laugh etched on her face as she laughs at something Puck says turning into a look of utter heartbreak.

She stands there for a moment, still as a statue. The only things moving are her eyes, slanted down at the carpet as she tries to process what he just said. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss…

Rachel.

With that word starts the air born objects. First a pillow from the couch, then the TV remote control, and the fire poker which only misses his shin by about an inch. "You selfish pig," She shouts, picking up a heavy looking dictionary from her bookcase and hurling it at him with surprising strength. "You don't deserve me!" She picks up her father's metal ash tray and successfully whips it at his foot. "After all I've done for you! I joined Glee club and threatened my social status!" A DVD case…and another…and a the complete Bring It On compilation. "I was even _nice _to them!" A bible, smack in the stomach. "God! This is so unfair!"

He picks up the book from where it lies in front of him, "This, this is not a weapon, Quinn." He shouts, stepping closer to her. "And maybe, just maybe, if you'd actually _listened _to what I wanted or stopped to think how _I _felt."

"Feelings?" She spits at him, closing in on him. "You want to talk about feelings?" He looks relatively embarrassed about his outburst now as he steps into the corner of her living room. "Let's talk."

"I don't want to," He gulps, trying to make his impossibly tall frame fit into the small nook.

"Well we are," She snaps, her eyes cutting holes in him. "Let's talk about Rachel, huh? What was it like kissing her? Was it good?"

"It was…uh…I…think…it was…different," He sees Puck cringe behind her and shake his head. "Bad different, horrible?"

Her blond hair whips over her shoulder to look at his friend, who is standing there with his thumbs tucked in his belt loops. She turns back around, "Now let's talk about how it feels to know that your boyfriend sacrificed your entire relationship to have a _bad_ kiss with a girl who isn't fit to steam clean your cheerleading uniforms. And then he sends his best friend out with you, to stall you while he thinks of a good way to apologize and doesn't even buy you flowers. Do you know how that feels Finn?"

"Bad?" He offers, trying to smile but coming off with an awkward grimace instead.

"Yes," She bites her lip. "_Bad._" She sits down on the couch, putting her hand in her forehead. "You can go now."

"Would it help if I bought you some roses?" He takes her other hand. "If there's anything-"

"You can go now," She repeats, pulling her hand away and pointing a finger at the door.

He hangs his head and walks to the exit, "Come on, man," He mumbles to Puck as he passes him.

His Mohawk-headed friend looks at the blond girl on the couch and then back at his best friend, "Nah, dude, I'm gonna make sure she's okay."

Finn shakes his head and slams the door. The second it's closed Puck hears a noise across the room, and there she is. The most beautiful girl he's ever seen, crying with her head in her hands. He swallows and makes his way over to her slowly, trying not to take in the scent of her cherry lip gloss as he sits next to her. It's impossible to ignore though, so good, so innocent…so perfect.

He lays his hand awkwardly on his shoulder, "Come on, Q, it's not worth it though."

She shakes her head, pulling away from him and his hand feels cold now, "It is though," She sobs, wiping her tears on the back of her hands. "I put _everything _into that relationship and he _cheated_ on me with some Barbra Streisand wannabe."

"It's not your fault Finn is an idiot," He whispers, watching her carefully.

She shakes her head, "I could have baked him cupcakes for his birthday instead of staying an extra hour with Miss Sylvester rehearsing for Cheerio's. I could have babysat his bratty little cousin for him so you guys could go to that Kings of Leon concert last month. I could've…I could've…slept with him."

He looks at her, wide-eyed, "No," He breathes, and she looks at him. He collects himself, "That would have been stupid, okay? I mean, sleeping with him because he joined Glee is like if I joined Flag Team and the dudes threw me a surprise party to celebrate."

"It would've made him happy," She sniffles, letting herself lean against him. "If he was happy…"

He picks her chin up with one finger, just like all the guys do in those douche-y romantic comedies she loves so much. "You are more than enough to make anyone the happiest guy in the world."

She sucks in her breathe and leans in, and he fights every bone in his body asking him to do the same thing. Instead he kisses her on the forehead and smiles, "You want some hot chocolate?"

She stares up at him, confusion in those pretty green orbs before nodding, "Yeah, sounds good."

He smiles and walks into the kitchen, opening up her pantry. "Wanna watch a movie?" She calls after him and he cringes, because he knows she always picks The Notebook from experience.

"Sounds great," He lies, grabbing the box of Swiss Miss.

As he stirs it into a mug of steaming water a few minutes later he silently reminds himself that the guy who takes advantage of the heartbroken girl never gets her. Just a well-aimed fist in the face.

**AN: **A little sappy, yes, but I like Puck/Quinn and the only tagged story for these two on here involves Puck ultimately turning gay…and much as I love gay people, Puck isn't one. So I thought I'd post this.


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